I lived in Seoul before and left Korea but miss the place so I plan on returning. While I had a great time in Seoul and met some awesome Koreans and foreigners there but a part of me wants to try a different city just because it will be a new experience. I feel that to enjoy a city it's not just about what there is to do in a city but also the people you meet.

I'm thinking about cities like Ulsan (because of the beach there) or Daegu (because it's a bigger city but not too big). Has anyone found the typical foreigner you might meet to be different from city to city? I know I'll meet different people but since we can pretty much pick where we want to live when we come to Korea I'm guessing a certain crowd would find Seoul more appealing and a different crowd would find a mid sized city more interesting. Also has anyone found a difference between Koreans in different cities? For example, back home in Australia people tend to be ruder in Sydney but more open to different cultures compared to other cities in Oz.

I lived in the Seoul area and then in Daegu. I've found that Koreans in Daegu are much more friendly and curious about foreigners. In Daegu I found foreigners were colder towards each other than in Seoul. But that has been just my experience.

Maybe try to check out other cities Facebook groups ? ... to get a glimpse into what the foreigners there might be like.

I'm only familiar with my own small town's group & the Daejeon group - "Daejeon Peeps".

'Daejeon Peeps' seems like a good group of people - helpful & I've seen plenty of meet-up events (hiking, holidays, ultimate frisbee,etc..) & language exchange / int'l party kind of stuff.

Daejeon's a pretty good town, IMO - But, I've only been to Gwangju & Daegu once though, Incheon twice & Ulsan & Busan not at all yet, so Daejeon & of course, Seoul, are all I am really familiar with, at this point.

Living in a small city I don't see the stereotypical alcoholic/frat boy types that get talked about a lot on this forum. I imagine anybody who came here to party would leave at the end of their first year, if not before

Living in a small city I don't see the stereotypical alcoholic/frat boy types that get talked about a lot on this forum. I imagine anybody who came here to party would leave at the end of their first year, if not before

Yeah I thought that might be the case and I kinda want to get away from that but have the occasional big night out. What do you mean by small city? 2 million or 500,000? I'm guessing maybe the smaller you go the less there would be

Living in a small city I don't see the stereotypical alcoholic/frat boy types that get talked about a lot on this forum. I imagine anybody who came here to party would leave at the end of their first year, if not before

Yeah I thought that might be the case and I kinda want to get away from that but have the occasional big night out. What do you mean by small city? 2 million or 500,000? I'm guessing maybe the smaller you go the less there would be

Living in a small city I don't see the stereotypical alcoholic/frat boy types that get talked about a lot on this forum. I imagine anybody who came here to party would leave at the end of their first year, if not before

I live in Seoul, and I don't meet many people like that either. It depends more on what you do than where you are, IMHO. If you don't go out drinking you don't meet many drinkers...

has anyone found there to be less rude people in mid sized or smaller cities?

Anseong is the best example of rude people in a small city. It's basically an insecure university town with so many unemployed people roaming along the streets. The Sri Lankan factory workers (most of them don't even speak English, but speak fluent Korean) were the most decent people I had met in Anseong.

Ulsan has lots of income to spend on English education, but it is primarily earned by factory workers who work long hours, have limited English ability, and don't mix with foreigners. The foreigners I knew in Ulsan who taught English frequently blew town on weekends. The foreigners who stuck around were more associated with the shipping industry and had higher incomes (which meant they hung in a lot of the more expensive bars and restaurants around town).
Daegu has lots of universities and hospitals and businesses, so the appreciation and use of English is much more prevalent there among children and adults. I've met friendly Korean adults every time I've been in Daegu, and many among them are professionals who value relating to foreigners. There are many more things to do in Daegu than Ulsan.
Busan is another name for rude. The drinkers tend to love it because they can hang loose and stay pickled, but the reality is that it is an ultra conservative and unwelcoming place where English is not valued highly and foreigners are not respected much. Lots of great things to see and do in Busan, but day to day life lacks the quality, comfort, and kindness of many other places in Korea.

My experience has been that people are more polite in cities without subways, probably because there are fewer staring opportunities, fewer opportunities to get crushed inside a subway car with fifty other people, and fewer opportunities to sprint through endless labyrinthine cement tunnels with hordes of fellow unfortunate human beings.